LONDON -- Perfect endings are for novels. Not so much for real life, or for volleyball teams and coaches.
These London Olympics were to be the completion of the Hugh McCutcheon sweep, both as kind of payback for past Olympic-related indignities and as a success story with a gender twist. McCutcheon, a tall New Zealander with no hair, lots of personality and an irresistible back story, wasn't promoting any of that.
He was coach of the men's U.S. Olympic volleyball team that won the gold medal four years ago in Beijing. Now, in London, he was the coach of the No. 1-ranked U.S. women's volleyball team. Had the storytellers had their way, his women's team would have won gloriously in the gold medal game Saturday night.
But the Brazilians beat the United States handily, 11-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17, and the story-in-waiting still is. Cinderella never got her slipper back on.
After the first set, the match became a barrage of winning spikes by Brazil, and a never-ending parade of dives to the floor to dig out team USA's best efforts.
"They were the first team to take us out of our rhythm, the first team we played where we did not have control," said veteran Lindsey Berg, the captain of a team that had not lost a match all summer.
"We're disappointed with the result, but we're not disappointed with the effort," McCutcheon said.
The silver lining of Saturday night's silver medal may have been that he wasn't asked once to resurrect family sorrow from Beijing, when his wife's father had been knifed to death and mother had been severely injured. The gold medal would have, unavoidably, brought it all back one more time.
Instead, the pain was about volleyball, about losing out in the ultimate game for the second straight Olympics to Brazil, about the U.S. volleyball women still being without a gold medal in the Olympics.
It was also about the reality that, in four years, the Brazilians will be going after their third straight gold medal in Rio. Yup, a Brazilian home game.
Saturday night's final spike into the U.S. heart was made by Brazil's Fernanda Rodrigues, whose bullet on match point left her with 12 successful spikes in the match. And she was only third best on her team, after Jaqueline Carvalho's 18 and Sheilla Castro's 15.
McCutcheon will return to Southern California, where he has recently sold his home -- the team trained in Anaheim -- and in a few weeks head to the next stage of his life as coach of Minnesota's women's volleyball team.
That's his new story, and he says it suits him just fine.
wdwyre@tribune.com
These London Olympics were to be the completion of the Hugh McCutcheon sweep, both as kind of payback for past Olympic-related indignities and as a success story with a gender twist. McCutcheon, a tall New Zealander with no hair, lots of personality and an irresistible back story, wasn't promoting any of that.
But the Brazilians beat the United States handily, 11-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17, and the story-in-waiting still is. Cinderella never got her slipper back on.
After the first set, the match became a barrage of winning spikes by Brazil, and a never-ending parade of dives to the floor to dig out team USA's best efforts.
"They were the first team to take us out of our rhythm, the first team we played where we did not have control," said veteran Lindsey Berg, the captain of a team that had not lost a match all summer.
"We're disappointed with the result, but we're not disappointed with the effort," McCutcheon said.
The silver lining of Saturday night's silver medal may have been that he wasn't asked once to resurrect family sorrow from Beijing, when his wife's father had been knifed to death and mother had been severely injured. The gold medal would have, unavoidably, brought it all back one more time.
Instead, the pain was about volleyball, about losing out in the ultimate game for the second straight Olympics to Brazil, about the U.S. volleyball women still being without a gold medal in the Olympics.
It was also about the reality that, in four years, the Brazilians will be going after their third straight gold medal in Rio. Yup, a Brazilian home game.
Saturday night's final spike into the U.S. heart was made by Brazil's Fernanda Rodrigues, whose bullet on match point left her with 12 successful spikes in the match. And she was only third best on her team, after Jaqueline Carvalho's 18 and Sheilla Castro's 15.
McCutcheon will return to Southern California, where he has recently sold his home -- the team trained in Anaheim -- and in a few weeks head to the next stage of his life as coach of Minnesota's women's volleyball team.
That's his new story, and he says it suits him just fine.
wdwyre@tribune.com
